Mysterious Suburban Chicago Crop Circles

NBC 5 Chicago ^ | 7/26/02 | NBC 5 Chicago

[Dengar01]

Timing Suspicious On Mysterious Suburban Crop Circles
Could Eerie Mystery Have To Do With Movie Release?

Is it a case of mysterious crop circles -- or an elaborate movie hoax?

A soybean farmer in Naperville said the broken, concentric rings that appeared in a field off Diehl Road left him scratching his head.

"Have you ever heard of something so crazy?" Steve Berning said. "Unbelievable."

Berning said the circles appeared last weekend and damaged more than 10 percent of his 8-acre field.

The circles do resemble similar ones seen in England, but in this case, the timing of their appearance in the western suburb is a bit suspicious.

Two weeks from now, "Signs" hits the big screen. The movie starring Mel Gibson involves -- you guessed it -- mysterious crop circles.

William Leone, an investigator with the Mutual UFO Network, said soil analysis could determine whether the circles have human or extraterrestrial origins.

But Illinois Farm Bureau spokesman Dennis Vercler scoffed at that idea.

"Since I don't believe in UFOs -- at least not soybean-destroying UFOs -- I have to assume whoever did this did it intentionally as a malicious prank," Vercler said.

Meanwhile, Berning doesn't seem overly upset about the circles.

"There's some damage, which upsets me," Berning said. "But I'm more curious than anything. I"ll always be asking questions."

[FormerLurker]

There is nothing "sacred" about geometry.

Tell that to the archaeologists, anthropologists, and geometricians, as they're the ones that coined the term.

SACRED GEOMETRY -- WHAT IS IT?

SACRED GEOMETRY OF CROP CIRCLES

[PatrickHenry]

I've never said that crop circles can't be faked. I've said that NOT ALL OF THEM ARE FAKES however. And I have yet to see a hoaxed formation come close to the symmetry and precision of a REAL formation, nor have any hoaxed formations been able to duplicate the bending of the crop at 90 angles.

They're not "faked." They're just being made by humans. Nothing fake about them. The problem of "symmetry and precision" is bogus. I've already explained (post 462, 488, and 492), how a very intricate and precise crop circle can be made. With practice, it should be no problem at all. It only required minimal thought to devise the techniques I wrote about. If I really cared, I could do much better. As I said, this ain't rocket science.

Now then, we're left with the "mystery" of "bending the crop at 90 degree angles." Is that what only the aliens know how to do? That's it? You're hanging on by your fingernails. It must be painful.

[FormerLurker]

I've already explained (post 462, 488, and 492), how a very intricate and precise crop circle can be made. With practice, it should be no problem at all.

Show me a documented "hoaxed" formation that displays the symmetry and precision of a REAL formation, then maybe I won't laugh so hard at your claims..

Incidently, how do YOU explain how one would bend ALL of the crops at 90 angles in making the formation without damaging or breaking them? And what about those weaving patterns?

[PatrickHenry]

Show me a documented "hoaxed" formation that displays the symmetry and precision of a REAL formation, then maybe I won't laugh so hard at your claims..

No one has matched up every crop circle with the people who made it. This certainly doesn't prove alien authorship for the anonymous specimens. Not to the rational mind, anyway. If you can show me the aliens, however, I'll pay more attention to your claims.

Incidently, how do YOU explain how one would bend ALL of the crops at 90 angles in making the formation without damaging or breaking them? And what about those weaving patterns?

I have no idea about the 90 degree angles. Maybe the crops just have tough stalks. I wouldn't pin all my hopes for alien visitors on that one. As for the "weaving patterns," I suspect it's just fancy footwork with the crop-stomping snowshoes. Red Skelton used to walk like that all the time for laughs. And he was no alien.

[FormerLurker]

If you can show me the aliens, however, I'll pay more attention to your claims.

Where have I said that aliens make the formations? What if they WERE in fact something other than aliens, such as humans from the future (or the past)?

I have no idea about the 90 degree angles. Maybe the crops just have tough stalks.

As I said, in the REAL formations, virtually EVERY stalk that is layed down is bent at a 90 angle, so it isn't just a matter of a couple here and there. And again, they aren't damaged or broken, unlike hoaxed formations.

I wouldn't pin all my hopes for alien visitors on that one. As for the "weaving patterns," I suspect it's just fancy footwork with the crop-stomping snowshoes. Red Skelton used to walk like that all the time for laughs. And he was no alien.

I don't think Red Skelton made the following formation, especially considering he's deceased..

[FormerLurker]

I erroneously typed the following while somewhat distracted...

Homo sapiens have been here for over a MILLION years. We have rougly 6000 years of recorded history. What happened the other 494,000 years I wonder...

For some reason I was thinking of HALF a million. Obviously, if it were a million that'd be 994,000 years that we don't know about....

[FormerLurker]

Have you figured out where Fibonacci numbers come from yet? Do you still want to claim that Phi isn't a universal constant that is extremely important in modern science? Hello, are you still there?....

[Momaw Nadon]

Thank you for posting the link of the video of a crop circle forming.

I see the crop circle forming as well as two white objects circling around as the crop circle forms.

I do not know what these objects are.

The entire crop circle seems to form all at once, not forming as a sequence of parts of the formation.

Assuming that the film wasn't somehow hoaxed, I would say that this is the best evidence presented so far that suggests that at least one crop circle may possibly be of non-human origin.

However, I also keep in mind that amazing things can be done with video editing (just turn on your TV or visit your local movie theater to witness this).

As I am not an expert in video production or editing, I can not say either way whether the video is of a real event, or just a clever video hoax.

Do you think this video is authentic, or do you believe it to be a hoax?

A great post at any rate!

[FormerLurker]

Do you think this video is authentic, or do you believe it to be a hoax?

I'm not sure, but if it IS a hoax, it blows away anything that anyone has done to date. Strange that there hasn't been more mention of it in the press, don't you think?

[balrog666]

Do you think this video is authentic, or do you believe it to be a hoax?

The video is real, the crop circle forming is real, art the white blobs are the people making the crop circle in time lapse photography. They glow because it was filmed using infrared filters (it was filmed at night). You can track down the original source if you try.

[PatrickHenry]

Me:
"If you can show me the aliens, however, I'll pay more attention to your claims."

You:
Where have I said that aliens make the formations?

Me, screaming:
Then what the flaming dork is this thread all about?

You:
What if they WERE in fact something other than aliens, such as humans from the future (or the past)?

Oh. It's worse than I feared. Far worse. You have transcended the status of mere cultist. You are beyond medved, who, until now, served as everyone's benchmark for the outer limits of incredible belief-systems. Take a bow, FormerLurker; you've earned it. (Oh, by the way, if humans today are unable -- in your opinion -- to make such formations, then please inform us how humans from the past could accomplish such feats.)

[general_re]

Marking...

[Gumlegs]

[FormerLurker]

Oh. It's worse than I feared. Far worse. You have transcended the status of mere cultist. You are beyond medved, who, until now, served as everyone's benchmark for the outer limits of incredible belief-systems. Take a bow, FormerLurker; you've earned it.

Well thank you. I always strive to "open up New Frontiers"... :)

Unfortunetely, I don't consider anything I've written to be a form of "belief-system", so I don't know if I still qualify for your honor and praise..

(Oh, by the way, if humans today are unable -- in your opinion -- to make such formations, then please inform us how humans from the past could accomplish such feats.)

Ever consider the possibility that we aren't the first technologically advanced civilization to inhabit the Earth? In fact, we might very well be quite primitive in relation to those before us, who through some type of planetary cataclysism were virtually anhililated. In fact, IF there were such a civilization and foresaw such a catastrophic event, and IF they had mastered the knowledge of travel through space and/or time, don't you think they'd do something about leaving where they were and settle somewhere else?

What if WE ourselves are descended from those who inhabited some other world such as that which now makes up the Asteroid belt, and came here to escape such a disaster? Our ancestors may have been virtually wiped out due to disease or natural disaster, and lost most of what knowledge they had. There might be OTHER descendents who escaped to OTHER worlds in space and time, and have located US and are trying to jog our ancestorial memory via the symbolism displayed in so-called crop circles. It's just a thought, and one of an endless list of possibilities if you have an open mind and do in fact consider things possible that are currently impossible due to our limited understanding of the Universe.

[PatrickHenry]

I think your plots were considered outworn and hackneyed themes a couple of generations ago. The Buck Rogers movies didn't even bother with them. But if they're new concepts to you, then enjoy the thrill of discovery. But please remember, science fiction is fiction, and it's written for entertainment.

[discostu]

Well if you've driven through farmland then you should already KNOW that sometimes you can't see crap. I drove through a chunk of Kansas it was like a 150 mile tunnel, the surrounding terrain went up from the highway so quickly and so high you couldn't see anything more than about 20 feet away from the road. 150 miles with nothing but yellow grass walls, somebody could have been fighting a war over those hills and there's no way I could have found out (unless a shell hit my car I guess).

Hey you didn't post information on what kind of crop it was. I indicated that, I then shared a bit of my experience wandering through 7 foot tall cornfields, which can be pretty creepy. Wheat can also get pretty damn tall. Thanks for finally providing that date information. All I had to go on was your precious and highly unconvincing picture. Of course even with the date we have no idea how tall the wheat is. Is it early season or late season wheat? We don't know. That's the problem with most of these crop circle pictures, we have no idea of the size of anything and can't truly judge what happened without that information.

The field itself is relatively flat, but you can clearly see where the crop track do their u-turn (very near the highway) you get a sudden forced perspesctive (the curve suddenly looks much further away without enough lateral distance to correspond with that appearance) which is indicative of a sudden slope down and away from the camara. The field is definitely UPHILL from the road. How far? We don't know. There's very little in this picture of any use for actually judging height or distance.

[michwm]

It's bad enough that train cars are de-faced with graffiti, BUT now we have aliens doing it to our crops.
WHEN WILL THIS END???

[discostu]

Answer to questions:
1 - well tey ARE displaying they're work. The question should be "would they take credit"? And there's no generic answer to that question. Gang taggers do some pretty impressive stuff and the only "credit" they take is in the nickname signature they might or might not use. We have no way of knowing if the makers of any given crop circle would take credit unless or until somebody does.
2 - I assume that the simplest answer is the most likely. Becuase humans HAVE made crop circles and are continuing to make crop circles until you can show proof that a certain crop circle is truly "extra ordinary" I must assume an ordinary answer to the question of it's creation. That's called logic, it is my prison and I will not leave.
3 - I have proof, the proof is the numerous films of people actually making crop circles. Without a crop circle that has clear evidence of of something 100% beyond known human technology I must assume that the proven way of doing something is how it was done. Extra ordinary conclusions require extra ordinary evidence. Symmety is NOT extra ordinary, humans make perfectly symmetrical complex objects every day.
4 - The "weaving" is simple, things like that "weave" as you push them over, branches intertwine, no big deal happens when the wind knocks them over too. As for the magical "bending" I don't believe it. I've seen no irrefutable evidence that the stalks are bent in an abnormal way. Most of the close examinations I've seen it looks more like the stalks were nudged out of the earth (like the roots couldn't resist the lateral force applied on them) not unlike fallen trees (which I have a lot of to examine currently, we had a great storm last night) in miniature.

Show me some truly extra ordinary evidence and I'll open up to the possibility of an extra ordinary explanation. Try and tell me these things have to be made by aliens because humans are so stupid and I'll make fun of you.

[Jedi Master Yoda]

Does anyone have opinions on this recent crop formation?

[discostu]

You do notice that neither of those is symmetrical. Obvious fakes.